Mass for the 50th Anniversary of Blackburn Parish

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Thomas the Apostle Church, Blackburn,
on Sunday, 28th November, 2004, at 2.30pm

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am delighted to be with Monsignor McCarthy and with all of you to celebrate fifty years of remarkable pastoral service in the parish of Blackburn. I have always highly esteemed the leadership of Father Paul Ryan, Father Jim Wall, Bishop Luc Matthys and Monsignor William McCarthy. Each has made a distinctive contribution, together with the priests who have been here as Assistants, and today we celebrate that achievement, while seeing fifty years as a milestone and a springboard for the future.

It is fitting on the First Sunday of Advent when we pray that the Lord may increase our strength and will for doing good, that we look with thanksgiving for the past, rejoice in the present and accept the challenges of the future. In this spirit let us call to mind our sins and remember the transforming power of the Lord, the one who is to come.

Homily

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ ( Isaiah 2:3)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The history of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish has been rich indeed. Today, as we look back on fifty years, we remember the foundational work of Father Paul Ryan, his pioneering leadership in the liturgical apostolate, and the dedicated service of the Loreto Sisters who had charge of the school from the earliest times.

In my youth Blackburn was seen as a place where the worship of Jesus Christ, the teaching of faith and the accompaniment of God’s people was absolutely paramount. Many of you will have much stronger memories than I of those early years.

It is indicative of the importance of Blackburn Parish that it has been an episcopal residence since 1974 and that the vibrant parish life initiated by Father Paul Ryan was given a new dimension in the breadth of organisations and groups, which Father Jim Wall fostered. The leadership of Bishop Luc Matthys and of Monsignor William McCarthy has carried further into maturity the life of the parish and for these men we thank God.

However, a parish is not only the priest. The Loreto Sisters, the many teachers in the school and the families who have been involved in the work of the parish, in outreach, in catechetics, in social work, in studying and living the faith, and in the formation of a community of disciples of the Lord Jesus are deserving of the greatest praise.

Truly we can say that through priests and teachers, the Lord has taught us his ways and through the reflection and example of lay people that Blackburn has walked firmly in his paths. As mother to South Blackburn and North Blackburn, Saint Thomas’ has been a bulwark of faith, strength and Catholic identity.

Because of the relationships here formed, many Catholic marriages have resulted and the family of God’s people has increased in ways that we would not have expected. Truly we too today, in the words of the Psalm, ‘Go rejoicing to the house of the Lord’, mindful that the living of Catholic faith is a readiness to acknowledge the Lord, to walk with him and to bring others to engage his Gospel.

Pope John Paul has emphasised from October this year that the celebration of the Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration and prayer in the church are to be the powerhouse from which we will find the magnetism and the courage to draw others to encounter the Gospel. Not merely because we know that the Son of Man will come to ask for reckoning at an hour we do not expect, but because every person in each parish is called to be a witness and a herald of the love, truth and unity which our God has come to give us.

Dear brothers and sisters, I join with you in thanking God for all that has been achieved here. I recognise with reverence and esteem the work of your priests, leaders and of your past and present teachers under Kath Garrie.

More importantly at this time, however, we live in a time of God’s providence, which despite the climate in the world is a time of hope. Pope John Paul has challenged the bishops to be witnesses before the world of the hope for God’s providence being realised in that world.

In a real sense I can say that the next fifty years is entrusted to you, the people of Saint Thomas’, Blackburn, and you too have to show that hope to the world by engaging in our society by word and example, by not stepping back from proclaiming the fact that you are Catholic and that as Catholics we have much to offer our world and society about the dignity of personhood, about the family and about what we as individuals can give sincerely to the world in which we live.

In a sense Catholic witness is never more challenging than at present. In another sense, however, we have never been more needed than we are and we have a pearl of great price, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to ponder, to celebrate in the Eucharist and the other Sacraments, and to show to others.

Let us go to it with joy and hope, confident that the Lord has shown us mercy and love and grants us his salvation.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.